Sharon Hammond
The Kruger National Park’s new management plan has been approved, paving the way for four-wheel drive routes and a reintroduction of elephant culling.
General manager for conservation development Dr Leo Braack says that the new plan took three years to devise and had the approval of many conservationists, including groups traditionally opposed to elephant culling.
“It represents probably the most transparent and participative process of policy review the organisation has had,” he says.
The new management plan involves dividing the park into six zones. In two of the zones, or 40% of the park, elephant numbers will not be controlled at all. In two other zones, also about 40% of the park, the elephant population will be reduced, preferably by live capture and relocation (but possibly culling) to allow vegetation to recover.
“Culling will be resorted to if sufficient areas are not available to relocate elephant to outside the park,” explains Braack. He says contraception for elephants was not yet a viable option, but that the new elephant management plan was based on sound ecological principles ensuring maximum biodiversity.
Elephants will not be allowed into the two remaining zones, which have been declared botanical reserves. The world-renowned park will also be managed according to more natural principals, and artificial watering holes built during the historic “Water for Game” period will be destroyed.
“Water will only be made available according to the natural distribution of water,” he explained.
This will ensure that the pressure of animals present in all areas at all times will be reduced and that a more natural pattern of shifting animal populations will be re-established. Species such as the roan antelope, which began declining as the artificial watering holes led to an increase in zebras and consequently lions, will now be able to recover.
The new management plan includes a recreational opportunity zoning plan to provide a wider range of activities for visitors, such as four-wheel drive routes that will be established in remote areas. It allows for the establishment of numerous smaller wilderness areas where visitors could go on day walks or overnight trails.
The new management plan was approved by the board of the South African National Parks last week and will be implemented once staff have been redeployed, funds procured and infrastructure established. – African Eye News Service